6.  The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Istanbul.
7.  At the time of the events giving rise to the present application the applicant was the major shareholder and the editor in a publication company called “Evrensel Ltd”.
8.  In 1992 Evrensel Limited published a book entitled “Conference Documents” (Konferans Belgeleri) comprising documents related to a conference organised by the Turkish Revolutionary Communist Party (an outlawed political party in Turkey).
9.  On 2 September 1992 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court charged the applicant under sections 7 and 8 of the Anti-Terror Law with disseminating propaganda against the indivisible integrity of the State and making propaganda of terrorist organisations.
10.  In the proceedings before the Istanbul State Security Court, the applicant pleaded that the book only contained historical documents. She also referred to her freedom of expression.
11.  In a judgment dated 1 July 1993, the Court found the applicant guilty of disseminating separatist propaganda, an offence under section 8 of the Anti-Terror Law as the publisher of the book. The applicant was sentenced to five months' imprisonment and payment of a fine. The Court noted that the book referred to a certain part of the Turkish territories as Kurdistan. The book also claimed that Turkish citizens living in those territories were of the Kurdish nation and that they should be given the right to self-determination, including the right to form a separate State, and that the Turkish army had invaded those territories. The Court concluded the book had disseminated propaganda against the indivisible integrity of the State.
12.  The applicant appealed. She submitted that her conviction constituted an unjustified interference with her freedom of expression guaranteed under Article 10 of the Convention.
13.  On 2 December 1993 the Court of Cassation quashed the decision of the State Security Court. It considered that the publication of the book constituted an offence also under section 7 of the Anti-Terror Law, disseminating propaganda of terrorist organisations, and that the applicant should have been also convicted separately under section 7.
14.  In a judgment dated 24 March 1994 the Istanbul State Security Court considered that the applicant should be sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment and a fine under sections 7 and 8 of the Anti-Terror Law. However, having regard to the fact that no appeal had been filed by the Public Prosecutor against the judgment of 1 July 1993, the Court held that the applicant's sentence should not exceed the sentence pronounced in that judgment. The applicant was finally sentenced to five months' imprisonment and payment of a fine of 41,666,666 Turkish Lira (TRL).
15.  The applicant appealed. On 22 September 1994 the Court of Cassation, upholding the cogency of the State Security Court's reasoning and evaluation of evidence in the judgment of 24 March 1994, dismissed the appeal.
16.  On 18 October 1994 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court notified the prison sentence and fine to the applicant.
17.  On 17 March 1995 the applicant began serving her sentence at the Bayrampaşa Prison in Istanbul. She was later transferred to the prison in İzmit. She was released after having served 112 days in prison. She also paid TRL 27,090,000 of the fine.
18.  On 27 October 1995, after the custodial sentence imposed on the applicant was enforced, Law no. 4126 came into force amending, inter alia, section 8 of Law no. 3713. It modified the mens rea laid down by the former text of section 8 as to the commission of the act of propaganda in question. It also imposed a lighter custodial sentence for that offence, but increased the fines. In a temporary provision, Law no. 4126 also provided for an ex officio re-examination of earlier convictions imposed under section 8.
19.  The applicant's case was re-examined ex officio by the Istanbul State Security Court. In its judgment of 22 December 1995 the State Security Court finally sentenced Ms Caralan to five months' imprisonment and a fine of TRL 41,666,666, which it decided to defer in accordance with section 6 of Law no. 647. The court stipulated that a new judgment had thus been delivered, and ordered that execution of the previous sentence be stopped.
20.  The applicant appealed to the Court of Cassation. On 27 February 1997 the Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of 22 December 1995 on the ground that the trial court had erred in not commuting the applicant's prison sentence to a fine as required by domestic law.
21.  On 19 June 1997 the Istanbul State Security Court commuted the applicant's prison sentence to a fine of TRL 750,000. The sentence was suspended.
22.  The applicant appealed again. She argued that the prison sentence imposed on her had already been served and therefore the court was wrong in suspending the sentence. In her petition to the Court of Cassation the applicant also referred to her rights under Articles 6 and 10 of the Convention.
23.  While the proceedings were still pending, Law no. 4304 was promulgated on 14 August 1997. That Law provided for the deferment of judgment and of execution of sentence in respect of offences committed by editors before 12 July 1997.
24.  In a judgment of 12 September 1997 the State Security Court decided, pursuant to section 1(3) of Law no. 4304, to defer judgment against the applicant, but to proceed to delivery if, within three years from the date of deferment, the applicant was convicted of an intentional offence in her capacity as editor, and, lastly, that the criminal proceedings against her would be discontinued if no similar conviction was made before the expiry of that three-year period.